Marisawright Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 (edited) 13 hours ago, scubacam said: Thank you that’s helpful, I realised I never replied to you about areas. The truth is that we don’t know yet. We visited in 2014 and stayed in Avalon , northern beaches and fell in love but I’m not made of millions. We scouted central coast a bit but when we come in April we will be looking at Wollongong , central coast more and drive up to Byron bay to have a look. Do you mind if I ask what your jobs are? We've just been having this discussion on another thread and though lots of people do commute to Sydney from the central coast and Wollongong, it's an awful trek, and it's probably not realistic to imagine that you can move closer into Sydney once you're set up. You might want to talk to @aconcannon about their experience. If you are in professions where you can find work outside Sydney, I'd strongly recommend looking at Newcastle. It's the largest city outside Sydney, it has a good beach right next to the city centre and some gorgeous places within an hour's drive. http://www.newcastlediggers.com.au/best-beaches-in-newcastle-australia/ You could live on Lake Macquarie if you're craving waterside. If you lived in Newcastle itself, you'd be within an hour's drive of the Port Stephens area, which is just gorgeous - lots of dolphins, fresh oysters, sand dunes, surf on one side and safe bays for children on the other, lots of cafés etc. Easily gives Avalon a run for its money IMO. Edited October 21, 2018 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubacam Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 Do you mind if I ask what your jobs are? We've just been having this discussion on another thread and though lots of people do commute to Sydney from the central coast and Wollongong, it's an awful trek, and it's probably not realistic to imagine that you can move closer into Sydney once you're set up. You might want to talk to [mention=216882]aconcannon[/mention] about their experience. If you are in professions where you can find work outside Sydney, I'd strongly recommend looking at Newcastle. It's the largest city outside Sydney, it has a good beach right next to the city centre and some gorgeous places within an hour's drive. http://www.newcastlediggers.com.au/best-beaches-in-newcastle-australia/ You could live on Lake Macquarie if you're craving waterside. Yes Newcastle is on the list to look at too.I’m a special needs teacher and my husband is project manager in plumbing heating and air con. I don’t know if we’ll get jobs in Sydney - we are currently just outside London but our jobs aren’t in London but we like having it semi nearby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 (edited) 7 minutes ago, scubacam said: Yes Newcastle is on the list to look at too. I’m a special needs teacher and my husband is project manager in plumbing heating and air con. I don’t know if we’ll get jobs in Sydney - we are currently just outside London but our jobs aren’t in London but we like having it semi nearby If that's the case, I would be putting Newcastle first on the list. It gets a bad rep from Australians because it used to be an awful industrial town, but it has changed enormously. It still has its crummy areas, like any big city, but I hardly recognise it now. https://www.domain.com.au/news/seven-things-i-love-about-living-in-newcastle-20160111-gm322g/ The thing that sticks in my mind is that I had two work colleagues who'd been transferred from the Newcastle office. They refused to move their families because they felt that Newcastle was so much better as a place to bring up children. Unfortunately they were in insurance and it wasn't easy to find a job with another company in Newcastle, so one of them was stuck with the two-hour each-way commute for a couple of years, from memory - but they still wouldn't budge! Sydney is still only two hours away. When I was working in Sydney, I drove up to our Newcastle office for the day fairly often, it's mostly motorway. Port Stephens was one of my favourite places for a weekend away at the time. Edited October 21, 2018 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulya Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 4 hours ago, Marisawright said: Do you mind if I ask what your jobs are? We've just been having this discussion on another thread and though lots of people do commute to Sydney from the central coast and Wollongong, it's an awful trek, and it's probably not realistic to imagine that you can move closer into Sydney once you're set up. You might want to talk to @aconcannon about their experience. If you are in professions where you can find work outside Sydney, I'd strongly recommend looking at Newcastle. It's the largest city outside Sydney, it has a good beach right next to the city centre and some gorgeous places within an hour's drive. http://www.newcastlediggers.com.au/best-beaches-in-newcastle-australia/ You could live on Lake Macquarie if you're craving waterside. If you lived in Newcastle itself, you'd be within an hour's drive of the Port Stephens area, which is just gorgeous - lots of dolphins, fresh oysters, sand dunes, surf on one side and safe bays for children on the other, lots of cafés etc. Easily gives Avalon a run for its money IMO. After 50 plus years in Oz, and time in every state/territory, there are only two places we’d live. Newcastle/Port Stephens area, and the ACT fwiw. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roomummy Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Hi Scubacam, We have recently sold our home in Oxfordshire after having it on the market for over 18 months! Selling houses in the UK is a complete nightmare and the time frames are never guaranteed even once you have accepted an offer. We have been planning our move for over 2 years and just now things have started to move in the right direction. In the end we have decided to rent for 12 months in order to release our equity so that we can afford to move our pets (2 dogs and a cat, plus 4 rare breed horses). We also have time now to buy a house in Australia avoiding renting at the other end and arrange schooling, jobs and vehicles. We go out in the new year to stay with family and to buy our new house! Whoop whoop Our UK sale completed in September 2018 and the money is now in the bank so we have gained huge freedom in our decision making from selling and renting before we plan our flights and relocation. Our rental house is no more expensive than our mortgage was, both in rent and utilities so I dont feel that we are losing financially. Ive also been able to pay off any debits, tidy up our finances, saving us interest and repayment costs, so overall the rent becomes insignificant to the gains. We are even able to save more cash from monthly salaries now than when we had our mortgage to repay, our monthly cash flow has actually increased which is a bonus whilst we are earning GBP. My advise is to concentrate on selling your house and move into a rental property first, pay off your debits, put your equity into a saving account and decide on a relocation budget. This way you have plenty of time to prepare your animals, look for work and arrange transferring the remainder of your equity at a favourable time, without making expensive mistakes. I think Australia is super pet friendly and know lots of people who rent with pets. If your budget is pushed for house buying checkout the Manning Valley area. Its close to amazing beaches and offers a rural lifestyle. Im originally from Sydney in Sutherland Shire and cant afford to return home so we are now looking to buy somewhere between Taree/Wingham and Forster-Tuncurry. The area has lovely rural towns and coast living but still a 3hr drive to Sydney or 1.5 to Newcastle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubacam Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 Hi again everyone,I just wanted to drop back on here as our activation holiday is now looming this April. We are staying in freshwater next to manly , Sydney. We will have a car and plan on travelling a lot up and down the coast exploring places. We are going to check out Wollongong, Newcastle, central coast and maybe even Byron Bay. A few people have now mentioned Newcastle and I’m wondering if anyone can pls give us an idea of where to look / not look for areas in which we may want to settle / look for properties when we do actually move. We are looking to be coastal or a 20 mins drive to beach max really and not too in the sticks as my hubby is a project manager so will need to find work within 1 hr commute. We have a child so somewhere with a community feel , decent schools etc. I know that living outside London there are just towns to avoid, and towns which are fine and towns which are great. Any knowledge to refine our trip and save time is great! Thank you ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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